Case Study: A novel or play that ends with some kind of spiritual

“A novel or play that ends with some kind of spiritual reassessment or moral reconciliation”

Basic reasons for committing a crime have been universal at all times and all over the world – poverty, passion or pursuit of power.

Rodion Raskolnikov, the main character of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and punishment”, had an obvious reason for becoming the person he had become, as his family lived in poverty and his sister was forced to marry the unloved to survive.

In fact, he was no striking individual but a vivid embodiment of the whole class of historic era. However, he took it a step further and developed a theory dividing all people into regular or low-grade and the upper class. “Whether I am a trembling creature or whether I have the right?” (Dostoevsky 74). Rodion wondered which group he belonged to – those consigned to misery and hopeless existence or the ones entitled to contravene the law and neglect lives of other people.

Rodion depictured every single detail of the future crime and its consequences. The moment he took an axe in his hands, everything went sour. Not only did he kill his quarry, but he also had to kill an unexpected witness of the murder. Immediately after the crime, Rodion was devoured by loneliness, fear and suspiciousness. He was no longer the person capable of shaping the future or mastering the fate. As there was no crime scene evidence, Rodion could have easily spent the money he stole for the purpose he dreamt of. Unfortunately, it was impossible. Rodion tried to go against his heart but failed. He felt no remorse for the murdered pawnbroker and did not give up on his inhuman theory. What he reassessed was his own upper class affiliation. Eventually, Rodion Raskolnikov ended up where he had started – among the “trembling creatures” (Dostoevsky 74) he was disgusted with.